Alternate Final Days of the 74th Hunger Games
by Moonfelar
Summary: What would have happened if Clove had looked up to see Thresh coming towards her? Begins with the feast. Clove's PoV
1. Chapter 1

I crouch behind a boulder, the closest cover from the cornucopia. I have eight knives concealed around my body, and one in my hand, ready to go. I look up into the sky. Yes, there is the first ray of sunshine. Now, where is the feast?

Just as I finish the thought, the table begins to rise. I watch it closely, paying the most attention to the black bag with the number 2 on it. Then, I'm distracted by a figure darting out of the cornucopia. It's the girl from District 5. She quickly scoops up her bag, and rushes towards the trees.

She is out of sight, and another girl, District 12 this time, is sprinting for the table. I step out from behind the rock, and send the knife in my hand whizzing at the girl. She deflects it with her bow. She turns and shoots an arrow at me. I reflexively turn to avoid it hitting anything vital, and I take it in the upper left arm.

I quickly snap the head of the arrow of and pull the shaft out. I register pain, but not as much as I expected. I can still throw with my right hand, and that's all I care about at the moment. The girl on fire sweeps the small orange bag onto her arm. She has an arrow ready, and turns. She isn't expecting the knife that hits her and sends a gush of blood down her face.

I follow my knife at a sprint, and her arrow misses to the right. I slam hard into the girl, and we go down, me on top. I pin her shoulders to the ground with my knees. "Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve? Still hanging on?" I ask.

"He's out there now. Hunting Cato." she says. Then she screams "Peeta!" I jam my fist into her throat, and she falls silent. I quickly look around, but Peeta isn't coming.

I look down at her, grinning widely. "Liar." I say. "He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You've probably got him strapped up in some tree while you try to keep his heart going. What's in the pretty little backpack? That medicine for Lover Boy? Too bad he'll never get it."

I reach into my jacket and pull out a knife with a curved blade. "I promised Cato if he let me have you, I'd give the audience a good show." I tell her with a smile. She attempts to throw me off of her, but I stay firm. "Forget it, District 12. We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally…what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and then I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy. How does that sound?" She looks pathetic. "Now, where to start?" I ask.

I wipe the blood from her wound away, and begin to examine her face. She tries to bite my hand, but I grab her head and force it down. "I think we'll start with your mouth." I say. I trace her mouth with the tip of my blade, and I stare into her eyes. She has fire in them. I am again reminded of her nickname. The Girl on Fire. Let's put the fire out.

"Yes, I don't think you'll have much use for your lips anymore. Want to blow lover boy one last kiss?" She spits into my face. I feel anger, rage. "All right then. Let's get started." Just before I begin, I notice the District 11 boy running at me.


	2. Chapter 2

I curse, and slash the blade across the District 12 girl's throat. No time to savor it. As I stand, a cannon fires. The fire has gone out, and I smile. The District 11 boy pauses for a moment, and looks at the girl I just killed. I take the opportunity to throw the curved bloody knife at him. He smashes it into the ground with a rock.

The large boy continues at me, and swings the stone down at my head. I side step out of the way. The stone leaves a dent in the ground where it struck. He swings the stone horizontally at me, and I jump back, pulling a long knife from my jacket. "Clove? CLOVE!" Cato has seen me fighting with District 11.

"You killed her just like you killed that little girl?" District 11 demands. He comes at me again with the rock, and I step out of the way once again.

"Yes, I killed them both. Rue screamed a lot more, though." I lie with a smile. Marvel had killed Rue, but I always enjoy taunting my opponents.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" screams District 11. I throw my head back and laugh. Cato is close now, sword in hand. District 11 sees him, and turns around, heading for his wheat field. First one, then a second of my knives, sink into his back, but he keeps running.

"Cato, lets leave him for now. I need to tend to my wound, and he isn't going to get far with those knives in his back." I say. I look down at my left arm. Yes, there is a lot of blood, and the wound went all the way through my arm. Cato agrees, and goes to our large first aid kit. It is one of the things that have survived the explosion, because District 3 had had it with him.

Cato pulls out some medicated cream, two gauze pads, and one long roll of sterile, white bandage. While he works on my arm, I look at District 12's body. "Should we take that bow and the arrows?" I ask.

"Yeah, we can check her for supplies in a few. And get all the backpacks." After a few minutes Cato is done, and we head over to District 12. I pull the small orange bag off of her arm. It contains a syringe of medicine, like I had expected. I put it into the first aid kit. Cato takes the bow and pulled the quiver of arrows off of her back, and places both on a small pile of extra weapons. Next, I pull a long serrated knife from her belt.

I realize this knife was the same one I had thrown at her on the first day. I chuckle a little, and slide the knife into my jacket. Cato takes her water skin and a bit of food. "Come on; let's let the hovercraft take her away before she starts stinking." I say. We take all of our water skins, and go to fill them up at the lake.

The hovercraft appears, and she is gone. Next we go to the table. "What happened to 5?" asks Cato.

"She was hiding in the Cornucopia, and when the table came out she dashed out quickly and grabbed hers." I say. Our backpack contains body armor for Cato, and nothing for me. District 11 holds a thermal sleeping bag, which will be Cato's since I already have one. Cato strips down and puts on the body armor.

Just then, the cannon fires.


	3. Chapter 3

Cato finishes zipping up the suit, and I stare at it jealously. I wonder why I didn't get anything? It doesn't really mater, I realize, because we don't have much competition left, and I could just use him as a shield.

I think back to the night that it was announced that two people from the same district could win together. Cato had been so happy, or had acted that way. He had given me a tight hug, which I had returned. However, I would have had no problem killing him in the middle of the night if it would have come down to it. Best not to mention that.

"Who do you think that was?" asks Cato.

"Probably either Lover Boy or District 11. Peeta was probably already half dead, and my knives might have hit something vital, or he bleed out," I say. Cato nods.

"When do we go after District 5?" asks Cato. He has started to make a fire, probably to cook something. Cato always eats more then half of the food, and I pretend not to notice. I don't want to end up like District 3.

"Whenever," I say with a shrug. CRACK! I glance over. Cato has just snapped an entire branch in his arms. I look back out towards the lake. "I only have 5 knives left," I add, more to the sponsors than to Cato. I look up into the sky, looking for a silver parachute. None appears, and after a few minutes, I look back down.

"It might not be up to us," says Cato. "The game makers might draw us together. Only 4 of us left in here." I nod.

"Do we wait to see who died today, before heading out?" I ask. In truth, I'm just feeling a little drained, and I want to let my wound heal a bit more. I look at Cato. He nods, and breaks another branch in his arms. "What are you going to make to it eat?" I ask.

"I don't know. A goose or something," he says. I see. He is doing the thing again where he plans to cook something we haven't killed yet. I get up to my feet, and stretch. "You gonna go get one?" he asks.

"Yes," I say. 20 minutes later, a goose is roasting above the fire. I sit cleaning the knife I used to kill the goose. Cato turns the goose at his discretion. A few minutes later, Cato takes the knife from my hand, and cuts the goose in half. Of course, one side is bigger and he hands me the small one.

Several hours go by. The sun has already set, and we are just waiting for the anthem and the dead. We don't say much, but that is usual. Then, the anthem starts. The face of the District 11 boy appears first, he must have been the one who died after the feast. Then the District 12 girl appears. The anthem ends. Silence.

Cato spreads out the sleeping bag. "You take first watch." he says. He gets into the bag, and says, "Tomorrow, we hunt." Then he rolls over, and is asleep.

Yes. Tomorrow we hunt. And, I have a feeling that tomorrow is the last day in the Hunger Games. One way or another.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm awoken by the cannon fire. When I open my eyes, I can see that it's around six in the morning. Cato is already up, stretching by the fire. Today is the big day. Today, I have a feeling that it ends one way or another.

"Who do you think that was?" asks Cato. He is sitting down, arm extended over his straight leg. I do the same, feeling the familiar burn.

"Peeta," I say. "Maybe he killed himself after he saw that Fire Girl died last night. Or maybe he just gave in to his wound." I switch to my other leg. Cato nods.

"Only District 5 now," He says. "That little girl reminds me of a fox."

"I thought the same thing when I first saw her. She is certainly like a fox, in appearance and behavior." I say. I get to my feet, and look out at the lake. This might be the last time I get to look at it. It is beautiful, especially now as the sun rises over it. Sometimes I wish I could have been born in District 4, so that I could look out at the water all the time.

"Let's get going," Cato says, after a few minutes. I check that my 5 knives are in place, and that Cato has his sword. For a few minutes, we argue about what supplies to take. Cato thinks we will need the bulky first aid kit, but I think we should bring more food and water.

Eventually we decide on taking one of the smaller first aid kits, and 2 backpacks full of food and water. I carry one of the backpacks; Cato carries the other, and the first aid kit. "I think we should head for the forest," I say. "That's where she went after the feast."

"Okay, sounds good," says Cato. Of course he would say that, because he has been avoiding going into the wheat field all games. I have wanted to go in, to find food, especially after the supplies were blown up.

We set off into the forest, walking for many hours without speaking. We do this to not alert District 5. We take five minute breaks every half an hour. When it was nearing dark, Cato took out our flashlight and handed it to me. I stowed it in my pocket, for quick use.

Then we heard the faintest _crack_ echo through the forest. "What was that?" Cato asks. I put a finger to my lips, and continue forward. Even though Cato and I try to remain as quiet as possible, he steps on a large stick, producing a loud _crunch._

Like a mole popping out of its hole, The District 5 girl shoots up from behind a bolder, some 40 feet away. Seeing us, she immediately dives back down behind her rock. One of my knives whiz through the area where her neck was a moment before.

I hear a soft _click_ and the girl pops up again. This time, she quickly chucks out what looks like a small round rock, and immediately dives behind her rock again. Cato grabs me and dives to the ground.

A moment later, there is an explosion, and the fragments of the grenade fly in every direction, and slam into the girls rock, the trees, and Cato's armored back. I looked up in time to see the girl sprinting away, red hair flying behind her.

**AN: So, I just remembered this story, and I'm planning on finishing it. Hope you guys are still interested in reading it. The last chapter will either be the next or the one after that, and there will be an epilogue. So, there will still be 2-3 chapters. I'm also thinking about writing a sequel to this, let me know if I should!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Last chapter! It has taken me so long to finish this story because I started to write the sequel! So if you like this story, please check out the sequel! **

"Get her!" screams Cato. He rolls off of me, and I jump to my feet. I throw another of my remaining four knives at the girl, but she just ducks her head and continues running. "After her!" yells Cato, and he is on his feet sprinting ahead of me. He drops everything but his sword behind him, and I do the same.

The girl was now out of throwing range, and worse she was leading us into a part of the forest with dense undergrowth and closely packed trees. She had the advantage here, her small feet and body able to maneuver quickly through the forest, but we were much bigger and clumsy.

Cato drew his sword and began cutting a path in front of him, and I fell in right behind him. We gained speed, but the girl showed no signs of slowing. "Just a bit closer" Cato wheezed "You can get her with a knife." I tried to reply, but the only sound that came out were hard, sharp breaths.

The girl suddenly stopped, whipped around and threw another grenade as hard as she could at us. Cato grabbed me, and we dived to the ground again. We used his body armor as cover again. We waited a few moments, but there was no explosion. We looked up in time to see the red hair of the girl flying out of view between a tree.

"Damn it! A decoy" I cry. We continue running in the direction of the girl, and Cato kicks the decoy with his massive foot; a simple stone. Suddenly, a terrible scream echoes across the trees, and District 5 reappears, running straight at us. I smile, getting to my feet. A knife whizzes at her, but she jumps out of the way, and only then do we see what has frightened her so much.

My knife, intended for the girl's neck, embeds itself into the shoulder of one of the pack of wolf like creatures towards us. Cato and I drop our weapons and we blindly sprint away, the girl right behind us, and the mutts right behind her.

No obstacle is strong enough to hold up against Cato, whole tree branches break against his body and vines are ripped up from the ground with his feet. I follow his path of destruction, and the girl follows me. Suddenly, Cato bursts out into a clearing, and there is the cornucopia. The lake sparkles in the setting sun.

Cato dashes straight towards the cornucopia, and scrambles up the side to the top. I run and leap onto the golden surface and a moment latter the Fox Girl lands beside me. We both pull ourselves up to the top, but she stays near the edge, and I crawl to join Cato on the other side. Cato is lying down breathing heavily.

"Can they climb?" pants Cato. Just as I turn around I see one of the beasts launch itself half way up the cornucopia. It slides back down, its claws screeching. They monsters begin to circular the golden horn. Then I look at District 5. She is not looking at the beasts, but instead she is on her feet, staring right at me. Cato stands. "Well, It's over, girl," he says.

"Neither of you have any w-weapons," stammers the girl. She is standing at the very edge of the cornucopia. She glances behind her at the beasts. I can tell that she knows that she is finished. Only one push and the mutts would rip her to pieces.

Cato seems to have the same idea, because he stands and walks to her, hands out stretched. Suddenly, the trumpets blare. Everything stops, even the mutts become quiet. I strain my ears to hear, but when the announcer begins speaking, his voice would have been heard by anyone inside the arena, if anyone was left.

"Congratulations to the final three tributes of the 74th Hunger Games! After reconsideration of the rules, it has been decided that there can only be one victor! May the odds be ever in your favor!" And then the mutts start snarling and growling once more. I start breathing.

Cato turns around. Our eyes locked. For a moment, I see pleading. Then, there is only fear there. He moves towards me, and extends an arm. I grab, twist myself around and throw him from the cornucopia to the ground below.

The moment his body touches the ground, every beast lets out a terrible howl. Cato jumps to his feet and tries to run, but the pack is too quick, too numerous. He kicks one beast, but another latches itself onto his armored arm, and another attaches itself to his leg. The pack pulls him down.

That's when I feel the knife slip into my back. The small girl behind me pulls the blade out and quickly stabs it again into me. When she removes it for a second time, I turn around, but she only stabs me in the chest. I fall to my eyes, and the girl continues to stab me, in the shoulder, arm, leg, all over my body.

She doesn't know how to kill a person with a knife, so she doesn't hit anything vital. I begin to pray for some god to allow her to find something that will kill me quickly. How many times she stabs me, I cannot tell. Then, finally, she finds my throat with her knife.

As I leave life I look into Cato's eyes. The beasts are still trying to rip through his armor. Where I expect to see satisfaction in his eyes, I see only sadness. The sun has set behind the lake, the waters do not sparkle.

Neither do I.

**Reporting from the capital: **"Last night, 16 year old Lyssa Simons of District 5 was declared the victor of the 74th Hunger Games! After an exciting chase through the forest, the young girl got the upper hand of District 2 tribute Clove Dexitin, killing her with multiple stab wounds from a small knife. After the cannon fired, Simons continued stabbing the body for more than 2 hours. She then passed out on top of the cornucopia, holding the body of Dexitin. Cato Burrs of District 2 died the next morning from animal wounds."

**AN: Thank you all for reading! The sequel will be called "In the den" and will be told from the pov of Foxface: aka Lyssa Simons. Look for it next week!**


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